Passion Project Pending

#38. Amney Mounir is a lead Data Analyst at Poshmark as well as the founder of Dataford.io, a live editor platform where users can practice technical data analytics interview questions commonly asked by top tier companies. 

Amney’s mission is to help those with the technical skills required to work in data analytics roles bridge the gap between education and real life application of those skills. Through his experiences recruiting himself as well as interviewing others for data analysis roles, he found that many applicants had excellent communication skills but lacked the abilities to pass technical interviews that are commonplace in industry. 

Originally studying mechanical industrial engineering in France, he moved to the U.S. in 2016 to attend the Hult Business School in San Francisco. After breaking into the data analytics industry and cycling through multiple roles, he ultimately landed his current role at Poshmark.

Dataford.io currently has over 2500 users and is generating at least $1000 in revenue per month, hosting courses in SQL, providing common interview questions to applicants for data roles, and building out new features to help with every step of the recruitment process. 

Tune in to hear about Amney’s mission to make interview prep resources more accessible for data analytics roles, his experience with content creation on Linkedin, and the challenges of building a business on the side of a 9-5.

https://dataford.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dataford/

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#37. Sarah Pinner is the CEO and Co-Founder of Beni, a chrome extension that finds resale alternatives from across the internet in the click of a button. Originally from Santa Barbara and having studied political economy at Berkeley for undergrad, she went on to work at Rabobank Wholesale Banking North America for four years, where her passion for sustainability, agriculture and policy served her through multiple roles working with food and law. Eventually she transitioned to work on innovation initiatives with startups within this company as she wanted to be close to people actively solving problems within the space. Following this period, she took a year off to travel, also learning a lot about circular economy and sustainability during this time through listening to podcasts and passive learning. She returned to work in business operations and strategy and started the sustainability team at Imperfect Foods, a grocery company focused on fighting food waste, before attending Kellogg School of Management for Business School from 2020 to 2022. Beni started a bit as an accident during this time, as Sarah and co-founders tried to find an accessible way to shop secondhand online. The team at Beni raised pre-seed by the end of 2021 and a seed round by the end of 2022, which was spent building out the team. 2023 was spent growing partnerships with resale marketplaces, growing the user base, expanding the platform and maturing the product front. They just hit 30,000 users with 100,000 resale items viewed through Beni, when they had about 2,000 users at the same time last year. They are currently a team of 7 full time employees with 2 part time folks. Beni uses AI and a matching algorithm to compare your search items with items available on resale websites, and generates profit through commission on sales brought about by Beni’s search abilities.
 
https://www.joinbeni.com/

https://www.instagram.com/join_beni/

Resource on Female Funding Statistics: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2023/08/01/we-can-fix-the-funding-gap----heres-how/?sh=4764cdc12a1e

Resource on Promotion vs. Prevention Based Questions in Fundraising: https://hbr.org/2017/06/male-and-female-entrepreneurs-get-asked-different-questions-by-vcs-and-it-affects-how-much-funding-they-get

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#36. Henriette Husby is a 26 year old podcast host, business coach, public speaker and real estate agent. She started her podcast, Businesstalk with Henriette, over two years ago in January of 2022. Originally studying real estate at BI Norwegian Business School, followed by a Master’s in Strategy, Organization and Leadership from Copenhagen Business School, she worked for a year as head of sales at a proptech company called ReData. Working in a male dominated industry, she sought out conversations with ambitious and driven women to learn from them. She decided to turn this into a podcast a short while later, and found instant success reflected in her podcast performance. From there it grew naturally, and she was able to monetize it just six months into starting with already over 10,000 downloads. She would travel to interview guests to be on the show. Since then, she has participated in entrepreneurship incubators, hosted events, had many public speaking opportunities, taken on coaching clients, and spent a month and a half in New York City interviewing even more female entrepreneurs. Her podcast is now the top listened to podcast on entrepreneurship in Norway. After a year of her first role at ReData, she spent the following year working on her own business. Late last year, she decided to get back into Real Estate so she’s back to juggling multiple roles. Tune in to hear her talk about her journey, what she’s learned, challenges she’s faced, goals for the future and more.

Work with Henriette: https://www.businesshenriette.com/

https://www.instagram.com/businesshenriette/

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#35. Devon Rule studied chemical engineering in college, but after graduation she jumped straight into management consulting. After that two-year stint, she spent the next five working in pricing and strategy at fashion companies Gap and Cuyana. Within each of these roles, she navigated into smaller and smaller teams that allowed her to have a great deal of leadership and visibility into projects, enabling a smooth transition into her now startup Indyx, cofounded with Yidi Campbell, a former colleague from Gap. Yidi had been asking friends to allow her to catalog their closets to test out an idea for reducing overconsumption by increasing visibility into what you already own. Since co-founding the company, together Devon and Yidi have raised a pre-seed funding round for Indyx and launched their app for wardrobe cataloging with added services such as 1:1 digital styling by creators who help you style your own closet into outfits. With the current version of the product, you’re also able to hire someone to come to your home and catalog your entire wardrobe for you. The ultimate vision is that we all have digital wardrobes connected into one “shared closet”, where peer to peer resale or rental becomes virtually frictionless.

My conversation with Devon involves discussions around sustainable fashion as well as her experiences in the fashion industry, being a startup founder, and looking for funding. 

https://www.myindyx.com/

https://www.instagram.com/myindyx/

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#34. Ash Yao and Kyle Gillaspy launched their tea brand in November of last year after nearly a year of preparation. Ash grew up in Taiwan and has loved tea since childhood - later, after graduating with a neuroscience B.S. at Santa Clara University, she started brewing tea for friends during her weekly family nights where she would cook dinner for her close friends. Due to popularity, she kept making her tea for others and eventually decided to turn it into a brand. After three years of work in tech sales post college, she was laid off, but this proved to be serendipitous timing for her to give KACE the focus it needed in preparation for its launch later that year. Kyle, having studied Computer Science at USC, developed an interest in product management through an internship during college, and pioneered a product organization called Product Space that has expanded to over 10 universities across the nation including Berkeley, UCSD and UCLA. He's been working in product management at Oracle until just recently when he left his role to join Ash in working full time on the company. Their combined skill sets have contributed to the skyrocketing success of KACE so far. With a team of three in total at the moment, KACE is now sold in over 20 stores but growing quickly. Sold mainly in the Bay Area, they are looking to expand to southern California in the near future. The tea itself is made in Taiwan, with a Taiwanese and Filipino influence. There are currently 3 flavors but more Filipino influenced flavors will be dropping soon.

https://drinkkace.com/

https://www.instagram.com/drinkkace/

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#33. Carly Hill is the founder of Carly Hill Communications, her influencer management agency. She is also from my hometown, Traverse City, MI, and was around entrepreneurial spirit from a young age as her mom owned a clothing store in our downtown there. Since moving to New York City post college, she’s had various jobs in fashion and marketing and worked with several brands over her career of over ten years. When COVID hit and she was laid off from her job at the time, she started her own company by reaching out to influencer friends and offering to be the manager, handling communications and negotiations with brands for content creation campaigns. This market became huge in recent years so it was an excellent opportunity that Carly was able to seize and now she is self employed and able to work on her own terms. In this episode, we get to hear all about the different jobs she’s had over the years and what ultimately led her here, how she couldn’t have predicted it, her own experiences with blogging and influencing as well as the”joys”, ahem, of managing self employment taxes and the dire need for an experienced accountant. 

https://www.carlyahillcommunications.com/

https://www.instagram.com/carlyahill/

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#32. (BONUS EPISODE)

Happy New Year's Eve and may you bear witness to the curveball thrown my way at the tail end of 2023. 

I've been working as a contract data engineer for a prestigious tech company and now I'm finally getting what I've wanted for a long time - time off to pursue my own entrepreneurial pursuits with undiluted focus. It just came a bit sooner than I'd anticipated, and with it is coming a wave of emotions and reflections. Bit of a torrential downpour. 

Tune it to hear the life update of a 26 year old deliberately electing to move from San Francisco to her northern Michigan home town in a desperate attempt to create a life for herself through self employment. I had managed to build a beautiful life with sufficient financial freedom by leveraging the skillset I went to college to acquire, but that did not equate to total freedom over my time to pursue my own interests. This is the goal for 2024, and it has become a priority for me this year because of the podcast and the conversations I've had here.

Perhaps if you're searching for a similar shift in priorities, my pod can help you out. As always, feedback is welcome! Happy new year :)

#31. Skylar Sorkin is the dynamic 26 year old force behind Regardless, a podcast that serves as the ultimate life manual for navigating the tumultuous terrain of one’s twenties. Recognizing the gap left by traditional education, Skylar founded Regardless two years ago to provide fellow twentysomethings with a potent blend of competence, community, and confidence as they navigate the uncharted waters of post-college life. For her day job, she is an account executive for Influential, the largest influencer marketing company in the world. Skylar started Regardless about two years ago and has worked consistently to cultivate a community wherein the twentysomething souls are welcome to learn and grow besides her as she hosts insightful conversations with people from all sorts of backgrounds. Skylar’s episodes extend far beyond the conventional, tackling issues such as self-love amidst the noise of social media, societal expectations, friendships, and the pressures of the world. If you’re looking to feel restored and nourished while navigating the questions of instability and constant growth that are your twenties, I would absolutely suggest that you check out her podcast, linked in the show notes. In this episode, I get to learn more about the origin story of Regardless and Skylar’s sustainable mindset around continuing to grow it, as well as our discussion around the impact and personal growth that emerge from starting a podcast.

https://www.instagram.com/regardlessthepod/

https://linktr.ee/skylarsorkin

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

Lola and Aorthi both work in the tech industry and met at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand. Lola is 23 and studied software engineering before becoming a full stack developer for 1.5 years. A full stack engineer is a mixture of front end and back end, where front end means working with a product’s user interface and back end is focused on how things work behind the scenes. Afterwards she transitioned into a Delivery Lead role, a more managerial role focused on the delivery of software products. Aorthi is 25 and studied Computer Systems engineering, and became a full stack developer at the same company as Lola after school. They decided to start their podcast Hot Girls Code about a year ago, thinking about misconceptions regarding what a computer programmer does or the certain type of person that will typically become one. They thought it would be important to have role models of people who work in tech other than the traditional stereotypes that still seem to dominate the perception of the industry. I discovered their podcast on instagram and am quite a proponent of the topic, being a data engineer myself. Especially as a girl, I remember studying computer science in college and hearing statistics like about a fifth of computer science majors in the U.S. are women, and just not feeling super comfortable because I didn’t see a lot of other girls in classes. It can make an intimidating course of study even more intimidating, so I’m glad they’ve created a resource for others who might feel the same but still be interested in learning about coding and tech! 

In this episode we get into their career journeys in the tech industry so far as well as their journey in building and maintaining the podcast, so this is great content for you if you’re working in tech, considering a career transition into tech, or currently studying coding or wanting to or if you’re wanting to build a podcast.

https://www.instagram.com/hot_girls_code/

https://linktr.ee/hotgirlscode

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

Portia Reinholz is the founder and creator of the skincare brand Chrysalis Cosmeceuticals. Originally going to college for business and communications, she has spent the last six years working for her father’s construction company and started building her skincare company on the side about two years ago. Her exposure to entrepreneurship from a young age has helped her understand what is possible, and her lifelong passion for lotions and other potions led her to the decision to create her own skincare brand. Throughout the process of building this brand, she took an online course to learn about product formulation. About a year ago, she got in a car crash that forced her to take a step back with the brand. This sudden event postponed her original plans for launch but ultimately shifted her mindset into a more thoughtful approach for the future. I’m thrilled to ask Portia about an industry I have absolutely no experience with and also hear her takeaways from her experiences of being around entrepreneurship growing up.

Speaking with Portia was so lovely and educational regarding skincare in general and how she approaches starting a business. Stay tuned for the end of this episode for a little surprise that Portia has to share, aka giveaway of her new products! 

https://chrysaliscosmeceuticals.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chrysaliscosmeceuticals/

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA